Venezuela: President’s Rival to Be Charged as Plotter

The national prosecutor’s office said Wednesday that it would charge a prominent opposition leader in what it called a plot to kill President Nicolás Maduro. The announcement did not provide details of the charges against the leader, María Corina Machado, but this year senior government officials accused her of organizing a conspiracy to kill the president. They showed what they claimed were a series of emails that they said implicated Ms. Machado and other opposition figures. They also said that Kevin Whitaker, a former State Department official who is now ambassador to Colombia, was implicated in the scheme. Ms. Machado is a former legislator and an ally of another politician, Leopoldo López, who was jailed this year after weeks of protests against the government. Mr. Maduro, a leftist who faces a severe economic crisis, has frequently said his enemies are plotting to kill or overthrow him.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Venezuela: President’s Rival to Be Charged as Plotter. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe